Bethan Knights

The team may not have qualified for nationals, but this season, Cal cross country has experienced enough growing pains and progress to suggest a stronger outcome next year.

Friday’s NCAA West Regionals is the penultimate competition of the Bears’ cross country season — they must pass this qualifying test at the Haggin Oaks golf course in Sacramento to advance to next Saturday’s NCAA Nationals in Wisconsin.

Prior to the Pac-12 Championships and NCAAs, the Bears will compete in the USF Invitational, Joe Piane Invitational, Capital Cross Challenge and Santa Clara Bronco Invitational, all of which they participated in last season.

Just as the Bears’ outdoor season is kicking off, a few select individuals will be finishing off their indoor season at the NCAA Indoor National Championships.

The Bears dominated throughout the meet, with the women sweeping both UC Davis and Cal Poly SLO and the men knocking off the Mustangs.

This Saturday, Cal will host the annual California Outdoor Opener at Edwards Stadium, where it will compete against UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The MPSF Indoor Championships, the culmination of the Bears’ indoor regular season, saw Cal finish with three first places and a mind-blowing 14 top-five finishes.

In its first meet of the season — the UW Invitational, a two-day affair in Seattle, Washington — many athletes on the Cal track team kicked off the year with personal bests as well as a good number of top-five finishes.

Hamilton’s 800m race at the 2016 MPSF Championship claimed Cal’s record with a blazing time of 1:48.55. At last year’s UW Invitational, he took sixth after coming in at 1:51.07.

Brendel and Corcoran led the men’s pack for most of the season, but lack of depth and standout talent was the team’s Achilles’ heel. The women also had a roster that ran shallow, but Knights and Oakley carried the team. The freshman-senior duo’s flat-out dominant performances in every meet of the season were enough to boost the the women to the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.